Former VP candidate talks to Oprah, dismisses rumors of running in 2012

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This photo released by Harpo Productions, Inc. shows talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, second from right, with former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her daughters, Willow, right, and Piper, left, during the taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

CHICAGO — Sarah Palin tells TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey that she doesn't have her sights set on the 2012 presidency.

"I'm concentrating on 2010 and making sure that we have issues to tackle," Palin said in the interview taped last week and broadcast on Monday's "The Oprah Winfrey Show." "I don't know what I'm going to be doing in 2012. [Running for president is] not on my radar screen right now."

Palin spoke to Winfrey as she began rolling out her 413-page memoir, “Going Rogue,” which will be released Tuesday. She begins a book tour Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Winfrey opened by asking Palin if she felt snubbed at not getting an invitation to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last year. Winfrey said she didn't have any candidates on her Chicago-based show during the campaign because of her support of President Barack Obama.

Palin said she didn't feel snubbed and told Winfrey, "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe."

The former vice presidential candidate also discussed her experiences on the campaign trail and said she was confident in her abilities when she was asked to run with Sen. John McCain. When chosen, she said, "I felt like, wow, John McCain is a maverick. He's all about empowering women. He is all about equality. He's about the everyday working class individual who can succeed in this country and he chose someone who reflects that."

At the time, she thought that the only skeleton in her closet was the fact that she was received a D in college.

"I thought that was going to be the extent of the controversy," she said, laughing.

Palin said that she doesn't blame herself for the Republicans' election loss. "The reason we lost is because the economy tanked," she said. "People were sincerely looking for change … Our ticket was perceived as status quo."

Opening up about family
Palin talked about her family, telling Winfrey that the McCain campaign didn't let her address the pregnancy of her teenage daughter, Bristol, the way that she wanted.

"This is not to be glamorized," she said. "This is not to be emulated … I didn't want that message getting out there that we were giddy happy to become grandparents."

She added that her daughter called her in tears and was "devastated" and "embarrassed" when her pregnancy became public.

The former Alaska governor was asked about being pregnant with her son Trig, who has Down's Syndrome. She said that she could understand why a woman would contemplate abortion.

"It was easy to understand why a woman would feel that it's easier to just do away with some less than ideal circumstance, to do away with the problem," she said.

But the situation eventually stengthened her pro-life stance. "What I have been given is a gift," she said.

Levi Johnston
Palin did not respond to the criticism she's received from Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, and denied rumors that Johnston and her daughter used to live together. She said it's “a bit heartbreaking” to see the road that he has taken, saying that it is "not a healthy place to be," referring to his plan to appear in Playgirl magazine.

"We don't want to mess up the gig he's doing: aspiring porn star," Palin cracked. "I also saw I didn't go to hockey games. There are so many untruths."

The new memoir doesn't contain any references to Johnston, who's sparred with his former mother-in-law-to-be.

The former Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate told Winfrey that Johnston has been busy with media tours and hasn't seen his son “for a while.”

Palin said she continues "to hope for the best and to pray for Levi" and that "this can all work out for good."

The infamous interview
When asked about her infamous interview with Katie Couric, Palin said that she was "annoyed" while speaking to Couric and said the way the interview was edited was partially to blame for how she was portrayed.

"I don't blame people for thinking I was not qualified," she said. "Her agenda was not neccessarily to show me in the best light."

She added that the McCain campaign gave her the green light to continue with the multi-part interview, even though she didn't feel she had done well.

"The campaign said, 'Right on, good!' ... if they thought it was a good interview, I don't know what a bad interview was."

Winfrey ended by asking Palin if she planned to host her own talk show. "Oprah, you are the queen of talk shows," she responded. "There's nothing to worry about."

Video: McCain camp bristles at Palin’s tell-all

Closed captioning of: McCain camp bristles at Palin’s tell-all

>>>sarah palin
's new memoir kwl going rogue" doesn't mince words when it comes to criticizing the way the
mccain
camp tried to manage her during the
presidential campaign
. the book is not out yet but it is already being slammed by former members of
mccain
's
campaign staff
.
nbc
's
andrea mitchell
has details.

>>reporter: is
sarah palin
positioning herself for
2012
, or just settling scores and selling backs? and with an avalanche of publicity, including a "newsweek" cover story today, is she good or bad for the
republican party
?

>>anybody who underestimates her runs the same risk that was run already.

>>reporter: in "going rogue"
palin
blames her campaign missteps on
mccain
and the media.

>>let's talk about your campaign with katie kouscouric? okay.

>>reporter: she talks about pressure to do the interview with
katie couric
.

>>if you thought it was a good interview, i don't know what a bad interview is because i knew it was a bad interview.

>>reporter: wallace tells
nbc
news it is just fabricated. i never saw her took a note, nor she never contacted me for any
fact checking
, nor did anyone on her behalf.
mccain
's told aides not to fire back hoping not to escalate the growing feud.

>>i'm proud of the campaign we ran. i'm proud of
sarah palin
and we continue to have a great and wonderful relationship.

>>reporter: if
palin
's book has a campaign villain, it is
john mccain
's top strategist, steve
schmidt
. she accuses his team of trying to glamourize her daughter bristol's teen pregnancy.
palin
writes, "if they weren't going to let me speak my heart an mind even about an intimate issue affecting my own family, what would they let me speak to?" but when
palin
confronted
schmidt
, she writes, he replied cooley, "just stick with the script." she complains that before her debate with
joe bidenschmidt
tried to fly in a nutritionist because she was losing too much weight.
schmidt
calls her account all fiction. when asked last month about
palin
's political future --

>>she would not be a winning candidate for the
republican party
in
2012
, and in fact were she to be the nominee, we could have a catastrophic election result.

>>reporter:
palin
is also being challenged on some of the book's policy pronouncements. for instance, she slams
president obama
for bailouts and deficits. but during her debate with
joe biden
, she praised
john mccain
for bringing folks together to pass the $700 billion bank bailout and said it is a time of crisis and the government did have to step in. she does offer kind words for
hillary clinton
, writing, "should secretary clinton and i ever sit down over a cup of coffee, i know that we will fundamentally disagree on many issues but my hat is off to her for her hard work on the
2008
campaign trail."
david gregory
asked her about that on "meet the press."

>>i'm ready to have a cup of coffee. maybe i can make a case on some of the issues that we disagree on.

>>reporter: but
palin
reserves her harshest shots for the media.

>>are you staying warm?

>>i am.

>>reporter: remember when we went fishing with her after she resigned as governor? she writes, "now i wanted to see andrea and her colleagues sporting fish-slimed waders banging around in a skiff, stuck in the mud and trying to pull themselves back over the bow. at the very least, they'd see there was no diva in me." but she writes, it was sunny, hot and flat calm, so -- dang it -- none of them got slimed."